Energy converters and associated methods

ABSTRACT

Energy converters and associated methods are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, an energy converter includes a first structural member spaced apart from a second structure member, a first piezoelectric element and a second piezoelectric element individually coupled to the first structural member and the second structural member, and a deflection member tensionally suspended between the first and second piezoelectric elements. The deflection member is substantially rigid.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/024,496, entitled “FREQUENCY-TUNABLE EXTENSIONAL-MODE RESONATOR FOR VIBRATION HARVESTING,” filed Jan. 29, 2008, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY-SPONSORED RESEARCH

This work was supported by DOD/US Navy funding under subcontract to TPL Inc, grant number 212379.

BACKGROUND

Distributed sensing may be useful in the structural health monitoring of civil infrastructure, airframes, and process control systems. Distributed sensing typically utilizes wireless sensors and transmission networks. Providing power to the wireless sensors requires either long-term power sources, or devices that can harvest power from ambient or driven vibrations.

The three principal mechanisms of converting mechanical energy to electrical energy include electrostatic, electromagnetic, and piezoelectric conversions. For example, piezoelectric devices principally fabricated as cantilevers of ceramic (e.g., lead zirconate-titanate (PZT)) have been developed. In devices utilizing these mechanisms, however, extracting the maximum power from ambient vibration relies upon maintaining system vibration at a resonance frequency.

Two methods of controlling the resonant frequency of vibrating piezoelectric structures include:

-   -   1. Control the stiffness of a piezoelectric component by         adaptive capacitive loading or other electrical control schemes;         or     -   2. Clamp a beam at both ends and apply a destabilizing         compressive load, which decreases the effective transverse         stiffness of the beam as it approaches the buckling condition.         However, the foregoing techniques may not provide sufficient         tunability for certain applications (e.g., the distributed         sensing applications). Accordingly, energy converters with         improved resonant frequency modulation are needed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-D are schematic diagrams illustrating displacement of extensional elements between two fixed points in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a plot of a normalized force versus displacement for various pretension settings in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of a frequency-tunable resonator in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram of a frequency-tunable resonator in accordance with other embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 4A is a partially sectional schematic diagram of a frequency-tunable resonator in accordance with further embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram of the frequency-tunable resonator in FIG. 4A in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a plot of frequency response function versus frequency in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a plot of resonant frequency versus preloading displacement in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a plot of output voltage versus frequency in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a plot of power produced at various combinations of acceleration and frequency in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a plot of power output versus acceleration for three different resonant frequencies in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Specific details of several embodiments of the disclosure are described below with reference to energy converters that are frequency-tunable and associated methods for efficiently converting mechanical energy into at least one of electrical energy, optical energy, sound energy, and/or electromagnetic energy. The term “energy converter” generally refers to a device configured to convert at least a portion of one form of energy (e.g., mechanical energy) into a different form of energy (e.g., electrical energy). A person of ordinary skill in the art, therefore, will accordingly understand that the disclosure may have other embodiments with additional elements, or the invention may have other embodiments without several of the elements shown and described below.

Electrical energy can be harvested from vibrations in the ambient environment through the use of electromechanical transducers. To maximize the amount of mechanical power converted, it is generally believed that the resonant frequency of the energy converter should match that of the vibration frequency from the source; otherwise, the power that can be converted to electricity drops dramatically. Thus, to maximize the harvested power, the energy converter need to operate at a resonant frequency that at least approximately coincides with the vibration frequency of the source with the strongest vibration amplitude.

Many energy converters have been under development at academic and commercial research laboratories. However, only a few of them attempt to be tunable; that is, one that can change its resonant frequency to match the source although such an issue is generally recognized as a serious problem and one that limits the widespread application of this technique. As a result, custom non-tunable resonators would need to be manufactured for every different environment, and the manufacturing tolerances would need to be very close to realize the targeted resonant frequency.

Several embodiments of energy converters described herein have been demonstrated in a geometry that provides tunability that can easily vary the resonant frequency from ˜30 Hz to ˜235 Hz. In certain embodiments, the energy converters rigidly couple two energy conversion elements (e.g., piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) films) which individually would behave as non-linear springs, with a deflection member to form a generally linear spring structure that when oscillating operates in the stretching, rather than bending, regime. The tuning is shown to be repeatable by adjusting the initial position of the films relative to the deflection member. Power increases with the resonant frequency and acceleration input. It has been recognized that the geometry of several embodiments of the energy converter works to increase the linear operating range, providing greater power output from the same vibration input over conventional devices.

A. Generic Piezoelectric Vibration Harvester Model

Energy converters (e.g., piezoelectric actuators or resonators) can have two basic configurations, commonly known as the d33 and d31 modes. In d33 mode, piezoelectric resonators typically include a stack of piezoelectric components displaceable in an expansion in the same direction as both the electric field and the poling direction. The d33-mode piezoelectric resonators use the expansion of the active material to produce a displacement and thus, a linear motion. Typically, the active part of such piezoelectric resonators includes a stack of ceramic layers ranging in thickness between 20 to 100 micrometers (μm), separated by thin, uniformly sized and shaped metallic layers as electrodes.

D31 mode piezoelectric resonators act by contracting or expanding perpendicularly to the electric field and the poling direction. The d31 mode resonators use the change in shape of the active material, in the d31 mode, to produce a displacement. The active material of these piezoelectric resonators also can includes ceramic layers separated by thin metallic layers or polymeric films such as PVDF. However, these d31 mode piezoelectric resonators displace perpendicularly to the electric field and the poling direction, with the displacement being a function of the length of the resonators. The number of parallel layers and elastic modulus is believed to determine the stiffness of these piezoelectric resonators.

Without being bound by theory, it is believed that the generic vibration-converting transducer model can estimate the electrical power P for a vibration energy converter of natural angular frequency ω_(N) as follows when driven by a vibration of frequency ω and acceleration magnitude A:

$\begin{matrix} {{{P} = \frac{m\;{\zeta_{E}\left( \frac{\omega}{\omega_{N}} \right)}^{3}A^{2}}{\omega\left\lbrack {\left( {2\left( {\zeta_{E} + \zeta_{M}} \right)\frac{\omega}{\omega_{N}}} \right)^{2} + \left( {1 - \left( \frac{\omega}{\omega_{N}} \right)^{2}} \right)^{2}} \right\rbrack}},} & (1) \end{matrix}$ where ζ's are dimensionless damping ratios with subscripts “E” and “M” denoting electrical and mechanical, respectively. The damping ratios are related to the viscous damping coefficients through

$\begin{matrix} {{\zeta = {\frac{b}{2\; m\;\omega_{N}} = \frac{b}{2\sqrt{k\; m}}}},} & (2) \end{matrix}$ where the substitution

$\begin{matrix} {\omega_{N} = {{2\;\pi\; f_{N}} = \sqrt{\frac{k}{m}}}} & (3) \end{matrix}$ has been made. The total damping on the vibrating system is the sum of the mechanical and electrical damping, and is related to the quality factor Q by:

$\begin{matrix} {Q = {\frac{1}{2\left( {\zeta_{M} + \zeta_{E}} \right)}.}} & (4) \end{matrix}$

The effective electrical damping is believed to be a function of the electromechanical coupling of the piezoelectric component, and the electrical load. The coupling coefficient of the piezoelectric material when deformed transversely to the electrodes, k₃₁ ², is related to elastic, electric and piezoelectric material constants through

$\begin{matrix} {{k_{31}^{2} = {\frac{d_{31}^{2}}{ɛ_{33}}E}},} & (5) \end{matrix}$ where k₃₁ ² is an upper bound to the transverse electromechanical coupling of a piezoelectric body, k_(31,B) ², and is only reached when deformation of the piezoelectric body is uniform. By way of example, the bimorph is a two-layer laminate beam in which both layers are piezoelectric. k_(31,B) ² of the bimorph in bending is believed to be related to k₃₁ ² through as follows:

$\begin{matrix} {{k_{31,B}^{2} = {\frac{9}{16}\frac{k_{31}^{2}}{1 - {k_{31}^{2}/4}}}},} & (6) \end{matrix}$ which will be close to 9/16k₃₁ ² for certain piezoelectric ceramics; for example, PZT 5A ceramic has k₃₁ ²=0.10, and an ideal bimorph would have k₃₁ ²=0.123·( 9/16). Often, a piezoelectric bimorph has the coupling reduced below that of Equation (6) by the inclusion of passive support shims. A reasonable estimate is that the coupling is about 75% of the pure-piezoelectric value. The electrical damping ratio may be related to the coupling coefficient of the body by the following equation:

$\begin{matrix} {{\zeta_{E} = \frac{\omega\; k_{31,B}^{2}}{2\sqrt{\omega^{2} + {1/({RC})^{2}}}}},} & (7) \end{matrix}$ where R is the resistance of the electrical load, and C is the piezoelectric clamped capacitance. Substitution of the capacitive impedance χ_(C)=1/ωC for the load resistance (the usual impedance matching condition) leads to ζ_(E) =k _(31,B) ²/2√{square root over (2)}.  (8)

The electrical load can be a resistor matched to the electrical impedance of the vibrating piezoelectric element to optimize the power output. Charge harvesting, such as non-linear processing of the input voltage, can also be used to increase recoverable power over that of simple impedance matching. The load drop over a resistor is a simple comparison that can allow for various device conditions to be evaluated. Therefore, the power delivered to a resistive load is useful to compare the relative efficacy of different vibration-scavenging mechanisms.

When the resonant frequency of a piezoelectric device is matched to the driving frequency, then Equation (1) becomes

$\begin{matrix} {{P} = {\frac{m\;\xi_{E}A^{2}}{8\pi\;{f_{N}\left( {\xi_{E} + \xi_{M}} \right)}^{2}}.}} & \left( {9a} \right) \end{matrix}$

By Equation (9a), the natural frequency of the piezoelectric device may be matched to the largest (A²/f) in the vibration spectrum for maximum power generation. As a result, in several embodiments, for a fixed piezoelectric device volume and maximum live mass, the design variable may be the stiffness of the piezoelectric element.

B. The Extensional Mode Resonator

Many proposed piezoelectric vibration harvesting devices are cantilevered beams with a seismic mass at the free end. The cantilever is assumed to be a bending element—that is, the stresses in the piezoelectric cantilever are from bending, but the cantilever undergoes no significant length change from the non-deformed state. Mechanistically, this describes a situation in which there is a stress-free neutral plane located inside the beam. The bending stiffness of a cantilever constructed of an isotropic, homogeneous material loaded at the free end can be calculated as follows:

$\begin{matrix} {k_{C} = \frac{3\;{EI}}{l^{3}}} & \left( {9b} \right) \end{matrix}$ where l is the bending moment of inertia, I=bh³/12, such that b is the beam width and h is the thickness. The natural frequency of the cantilever is

$\begin{matrix} {{f_{N} = {\frac{1}{\sqrt{m}}\frac{1}{2\pi}\sqrt{\frac{3\;{EI}}{l^{3}}}}},} & (10) \end{matrix}$ where m is the effective mass, which may be approximated as the seismic mass if it is much greater than the mass of the cantilever. In vibration-harvesting applications, this is typically the case.

Several embodiments of the present disclosure are related to energy converters that utilize at least primarily extension, rather than bending, of the piezoelectric elements. FIG. 1A schematically illustrates a string 102 of length 2l, as an example of an extensional energy conversion element, between two fixed end members 104. It is believed that such extensional energy conversion element (e.g., strings and membranes) cannot support bending moments, and so the contribution of bending may be ignored. The force F applied at the center to displace the center of the string 102 a distance u can be calculated as:

$\begin{matrix} {F = {\frac{1}{4}\frac{Ebh}{l^{3}}{u^{3}.}}} & (11) \end{matrix}$

As can be seen from Equation (11), the string 102 exhibits a non-linear force deflection relationship, i.e., the force required for further deformation increases as the cube of deflection. In the case of a beam, either single or doubly clamped, the relationship between force and displacement is believed to be linear. It should be noted the cantilever has a linear range of about 25% of the beam length, while the doubly-clamped beam has a linear range of about 25% of the beam thickness.

A mass attached to the center of a string or membrane can harvest electrical power by driving the external frame via vibration. However, a non-linear spring-mass system is undesirable for at least two reasons. First, non-linear oscillating structures may exhibit dynamic behavior that is non-symmetrical as a function of an applied frequency, leading to complex behavior when the frequency changes. It is also believed that non-linear oscillating structures may also exhibit chaotic behavior, which would imply transformation of mechanical to electrical power over a time-varying band of frequencies.

Even though the non-linear force-deflection behavior suggests an opportunity for frequency tunability (e.g., it is believed that small deflections about a large mean deflection would be approximately linear, or the natural frequency may be changed by biasing the mean deflection), it is believed that there is no known way of conveniently implementing a constant mean center deflection while allowing free motion. For example, a biasing force may be applied to a sealed membrane by application of static pressure to one side of the string 102 which behaves as a spring element. However, such an application of static pressure would require adjustability in the field for robust tuning characteristics and hermeticity for long-term unattended operation. In another example, a mean force may be imposed on a string system by an attractive force on the center mass (such as gravity) or drag forces from a flowing fluid. Gravity biasing, however, would not allow tunability, and would further fix the orientation of the harvesting device. In a further example, viscous drag forces may be varied, but would introduce an unacceptable amount of mechanical loss.

To at least partially address the foregoing issues, several embodiments of the disclosure provide the following approach to conveniently implement small and efficient energy converters and methods for harvesting vibration energy. FIG. 1B schematically illustrates an energy converter 101 having two extensional energy conversion elements (e.g., springs 102) described by Equation (11) coupled by a deflection member (e.g., a rigid link 106) that has a total length of 2u_(p)=u₁+u₂, in which u_(p) is the “preloading” displacement. In the illustrated embodiment, the rigid link 106 is coupled at approximately the center of the springs 102. In other embodiments, the rigid link 106 can be coupled at other locations along the springs 102.

When the rigid link 106 is at equilibrium (i.e., a non-energized state), the forces exerted by each non-linear strings 102 sum to zero;

$\begin{matrix} {F_{TOT} = {{{\frac{1}{4}\frac{E_{1}b_{1}h_{1}}{l_{1}^{3}}u_{1}^{3}} + {\frac{1}{4}\frac{E_{2}b_{2}h_{2}}{l_{2}^{3}}u_{2}^{3}}} = 0.}} & (12) \end{matrix}$ In certain embodiments, the two springs 102 can be generally identical, and so u₁=−u₂ such that the initial deflection of each extensional element is u_(p) at a non-energized state. For the remainder of this disclosure, the foregoing assumption is used for illustration purposes. In other embodiments, the two springs 102 may be different in structure, length, rigidity, and/or other characteristics.

As shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C, the effective spring constant of the energy converter 101 is found by deflecting the rigid link by an arbitrary amount Δu, so that

$\quad\begin{matrix} \begin{matrix} {{F_{TOT} = {{\frac{1}{4}\frac{Ebh}{l^{3}}\left( {u_{p} + {\Delta\; u}} \right)^{3}} + {\frac{1}{4}\frac{Ebh}{l^{3}}\left( {{- u_{p}} + {\Delta\; u}} \right)^{3}}}},} \\ {= {\frac{1}{4}\frac{Ebh}{l^{3}}{\left( {{6u_{p}^{2}\Delta\; u} + {2\Delta\; u^{3}}} \right).}}} \end{matrix} & (13) \end{matrix}$

As can be seen from Equation (13), the force-deflection characteristics of the rigid link 106 include both linear and cubic terms in Δu. At sufficiently small deflections, the term proportional to Δu³ may be neglected, and the stiffness becomes:

$\begin{matrix} {k = {\frac{d\; F_{TOT}}{d\left( {\Delta\; u} \right)} \cong {\frac{3}{2}\frac{Ebh}{l^{3}}{u_{p}^{2}.}}}} & (14) \end{matrix}$

In another embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 1D, the rigid link 106 can be positioned between two strings 102. The two fixed end members 104 may be displaced to pretension or stretch the two strings 102 relative to the rigid link 106. In operation, the rigid link 106 vibrates longitudinally along direction X relative to the two fixed end members 104. Without being bound by theory, it is believed that the linearity of the force-deflection characteristics of the rigid link 106 also follows the relations discussed above.

FIG. 2 illustrates normalized force-displacement relationships of Equation (13) with respect to increasing amounts of normalized preloading, u_(p)/l, in logarithmic coordinates. As long as the slope of the line in these coordinates is 1, then the spring behaves linearly. As shown in FIG. 2, the linear range of the energy converter 101 is approximately equal to the preloading displacement u_(p).

Substitution of Equation (14) into Equation (10) shows that the natural frequency of the energy converter 101 is linearly related to the pre-deflection of the extensional elements,

$\begin{matrix} {f_{N} = {\frac{u_{p}}{\sqrt{m}}\frac{1}{2\pi}{\sqrt{\frac{3}{2}\frac{Ebh}{l^{3}}}.}}} & (15) \end{matrix}$ The linear f_(N) (u_(p)) relationship is believed to be valid for other transversely-loaded extensional energy conversion elements, and substitution of the appropriate force-deflection relationship. Regardless of the dimensions of the extensional energy conversion elements, Equation (15) at least partially encapsulates the resonant frequency (expected to be close to the natural frequency) tunability of the energy converters described in the next section. For any other shape elements, e.g. a circular diaphragm loaded at the center, the development of Equations (12)-(15) proceeds with the substitution of F=βu³  (16) where β is the proportionality between the force and cube of displacement for the other geometries. Energy Converters

Several embodiments of a energy converter includes a resonating mass-spring device that converts at least some of the mechanical energy imparted to it from an external vibrating energy source to electrical energy. Embodiments of such a device can be particularly useful for low-power sensing and information transmission applications. In certain embodiments, the energy converter can have two piezoelectric elements, each of which are non-linear, but can be combined to form an overall linear structure. By changing the initial tension on the piezoelectric elements, the effective spring constant may be changed such that the resonant frequency can be varied over a wide range.

In a particular embodiment, a piezoelectric energy converter with a repeatable frequency adjustment range greater than 120 Hz has been demonstrated. Because the maximum power occurs approximately at the resonant frequency, and frequencies vary depending on the environment, a large adjustment range is desirable for a practical vibration energy converter. The energy converters described herein are configured to extend the linear force-deflection region that increases with applied tension to the film, in contrast to a single element membrane that exhibits a cubic force-displacement relationship. This provides the ability to harvest a uniform level of power over a broad range of accelerations and frequencies.

In addition, it is believed that tension increases the resonant frequency of the structure. The assumption of constant mechanical damping cannot be made in this case as the tension applied in the film at different tension settings changes the stress state of the film. Simple power measurements over a fixed load resistance demonstrated the extension of the linear regime with applied tension, and power is also shown to roll off at a point that appears to coincide with the transition from the linear to the cubic region of the force-deflection relation. The tuning was shown to be repeatable by adjusting the initial position of the extensional energy conversion elements relative to the deflection member. Power increases with the resonant frequency and acceleration input, and a plateau in harvestable power occurs with the transition from a linear to a cubic force-displacement relationship. The geometry of the coupled resonator structure works to increase the linear operating range providing greater power output from the same vibration input.

The unique performance of the energy converter described herein is based on the following characteristics:

-   -   Has a resonant frequency that can be tuned based on the length         of the deflection member;     -   Does not suffer from a drop in power output at higher resonant         frequencies;     -   The tunability is passive, and once set does not require         additional power to adjust once set.         The unique performance is believed to be based on the geometry         and design of the structure, which couples two non-linear         springs to form a linear spring system which extends the linear         regime of the device's deflection-force relationship beyond that         can be achieved in either a bending geometry or a single         membrane that has a cubic force-deflection relationship.

In one embodiment, the energy converter is used to power sensor nodes and transmission systems. In another embodiment, the energy converter has a resonant frequency that can be tuned. Other embodiments include the integration of the energy converter with other electronic devices.

Several embodiments of energy converters referred to as extensional mode resonator (“XMR”) are schematically illustrated in FIGS. 3A-4B. FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of an XMR 300 having rectangular shaped piezoelectric elements in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3A, the XMR 300 can include energy conversion elements (e.g., piezoelectric elements 301, identified individuals as first piezoelectric element 301 a and second piezoelectric element 301 b) respectively where the ends are secured or fixed to an upper seismic mass 305 a and a lower seismic mass 305 b (collectively referred to as seismic masses 305). The other ends of the piezoelectric elements 301 a and 301 b are fixed to a central structural member 302, which is fixedly attached to a support 309 via, e.g., an aperture (not shown) in the second seismic mass 305 b and the second piezoelectric element 301 b. The seismic masses 305 also individually include a flange 311 through which a deflection adjustment member 304 is positioned.

In the illustrated embodiment, the piezoelectric elements 301 include two generally identical rectangular films. In other embodiments, the piezoelectric elements 301 can include circular diaphragms as described in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B. In further embodiments, the piezoelectric elements 301 can also include strings, wires, coils, flexural elements, a combination of these structures, and/or other suitable structures.

The piezoelectric elements 301 can be constructed from any material capable of generating an electrical potential in response to mechanical stress. Suitable materials include gallium orthophosphate, langasite, barium titanate, lead titanate, lead zirconate titanate, potassium niobate, lithium niobate, lithium tantalite, sodium tungstate, Ba2NaNb5O5, Pb2KNb5O15, Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), Sodium potassium niobate, Bismuth ferrite, and/or other suitable piezoelectric materials. The piezoelectric elements 301 may include monolithic piezoelectric elements, thin film or composite structures, and/or woven composite materials.

The piezoelectric elements 301 may undergo generally uniform tension in the rest position. Such tension may be referred to hereinafter as “preloading,” “static deflection,” or “static tension.” Without being bound by theory, it is believed that the geometry of the XMR 300 can produce stretching of the piezoelectric elements instead of flexure or bending. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, the seismic masses 305 are positioned relative to each other by use of the deflection adjustment member 304. As a result, the piezoelectric elements 301 are stretched or pretensioned relative to the central structural member 302 and the seismic masses 305. In other embodiments, the piezoelectric elements may be pretensioned by stretching over the first and second structural members 302 a and 302 b, as illustrated in FIG. 3B. Accordingly, the seismic mass 305 can vibrate in the X direction between the first and second structural members 302 a and 302 b.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 3A, the seismic masses 305 are suspended relative to the central structural member 302 by the piezoelectric elements 301. The seismic masses 305 can oscillate together relative to the central structural member 302 in response to environmental vibrations in the direction X at a frequency and amplitude that correlate to those of the environmental vibrations. The seismic masses 305 may include a plate, a slab, a cylinder, and/or other suitable structures that are substantially rigid. In other embodiments, the seismic masses 305 may be contained within a cage-like structure (not shown) in which a plurality of piezoelectric elements 301 suspend the seismic masses 305 within the cage-like structure. The cage-like structure may be cubic, rectangular, triangular, circular or any other shape. The seismic masses 305 can include a structure constructed from a metal, a metal alloy, ceramics, and/or other material with sufficient rigidity.

In operation, the seismic masses 305 sense the environmental vibration and vibrate accordingly relative to the central structural member 302. The vibration of the seismic masses 305 alternatively applies mechanical stress on the piezoelectric elements 301 a and 301 b in the X direction. For example, when the seismic masses 305 move up, the first piezoelectric element 301 a is relaxed while the second piezoelectric element 301 b is stretched. when the seismic masses 305 move down, the first piezoelectric element 301 a is stretched while the second piezoelectric element 301 b is relaxed. The piezoelectric elements 301 then convert the applied mechanical stress into electrical energy and output an electrical signal to a power conditioner 310.

Without being bound by theory, it is believed that for a certain size of the piezoelectric elements 301, the physical distances between the structural member 302 and the seismic masses 305 defines the preloading and therefore the resonant frequency of the piezoelectric elements 301. In certain embodiments, the preloading can be fixed to define a current versus frequency response of the XMR 300. In applications where the environmental vibration frequency is generally a constant, the XMR 300 can be tuned to at least increase the electrical response from the environmental vibration. Such embodiments provide for an economy of scale in manufacture by enabling a single extensional mode resonator configuration for a range of applications. For example, the XMR 300 can be tuned to the environmental vibration frequency with the highest amplitude for a particular environment. Such tuning may occur at the time of XMR installation or prior to device installation if the environmental frequency is known.

In other embodiments, the preloading can be adjusted dynamically in response to fluctuations in the environmental vibration frequency spectrum either periodically or continuously. For example, the adjustment member 304 can be used to modulate a physical distance between the seismic masses 305, and thus the distances between each of the seismic masses 305 and the central structural member 302. Therefore, the tension on the piezoelectric elements 301 may be adjusted. In the illustrated embodiment, the adjustment member 304 includes a screw configured to modulate the distance between the seismic masses 305. In other embodiments, the adjustment member 304 can also include hydraulic pistons, pneumatic drives, and/or other suitable components.

Optionally, the XMR 300 can also include electronic circuitry (e.g., a feedback controller) and/or electrical/mechanical components (e.g., amplitude monitors, power output monitors, actuators, etc.) configured to modulate the preloading and/or to monitor a feedback of the electrical response as a function of preloading. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, the XMR 300 includes the power conditioner 310 (e.g., rectifiers, charge pumps, etc.) electrically coupled to the piezoelectric elements 301, a process logic controller 312 coupled to a seismic monitor 314 for monitoring environmental vibration, and an actuator 316 (e.g., an electric motor) operatively coupled to the adjustment member 304.

In certain embodiments, the controller 312 receives a signal of environmental vibration from the seismic monitor 314 (e.g., frequencies, amplitude, etc.). The controller 312 then determines a desired natural frequency for the XMR 300 by, for example, identifying the frequency of the environment vibration with the largest amplitude. The controller 312 can then calculate a degree of deflection for the piezoelectric elements 301 based on the desired natural frequency. The controller 312 then modulates the actuator 316 to drive the adjustment member 304 for adjusting a position of the seismic masses 305 relative to the structural member 302 until the calculated degree of deflection is achieved. In other embodiments, the controller 312 can also monitor a power output from the piezoelectric elements 301 via the power conditioner 310 and modulate the actuator 316 to drive the adjustment member 304 such that the power output from the piezoelectric elements 301 may be at least increased or maximized. In further embodiments, the degree of deflection may be adjusted based on both the signal from the seismic monitor 314 and the power output of the piezoelectric elements 301.

FIG. 4A is a partially sectional schematic diagram of an XMR 400 having generally circular-shaped piezoelectric elements in accordance with further embodiments of the disclosure. FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram of the XMR 400 in FIG. 4A. Even though only certain components are shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, embodiments of the XMR 400 can also include electronic circuitry and/or electrical/mechanical components (e.g., those described above with respect to FIG. 3) and/or other suitable electrical and/or mechanical components.

Referring to FIGS. 4A and 4B together, the XMR 400 can include a first piezoelectric element 401 a and a second piezoelectric element 401 b extending between a first end member 402 and a second end member 403 that is attached to a base 410. The XMR 400 can also include a deflection member or seismic mass 405 tensionally suspended between the first piezoelectric element 401 a and the second piezoelectric element 401 b to apply a deflection, pretension, or preloading thereto. A pair of rings or flanges 406 fasten the first and second piezoelectric elements 401 a and 401 b and the seismic mass 405 together. The XMR 400 can also include an adjustment member 404 (shown as a screw for illustration purposes) configured to adjust a distance between the first and second end members 402 and 403 for modulating a pretension on the first and second piezoelectric elements 401 a and 401 b from the seismic mass 405. In the illustrated embodiment, the first and second piezoelectric elements 401 a and 401 b are generally symmetrical relative to the seismic mass 405. In other embodiments, the first and second piezoelectric elements 401 a and 401 b may be asymmetrical relative to the seismic mass 405.

In operation, the seismic mass 405 senses environmental vibration and vibrate accordingly in the direction X relative to the first and second end members 402 and 403. The vibration of the seismic mass 405 applies mechanical stress on the piezoelectric elements 401 a and 401 b. The piezoelectric elements 401 a and 401 b convert the applied mechanical stress into electrical energy that can be used for powering remote sensors, electronic monitors, and/or other suitable devices.

Even though several embodiments of the energy converters are described above with reference to FIGS. 3-4B as having two piezoelectric elements, in certain embodiments, the energy converters may include only one piezoelectric element pretensioned by a deflection member against a generally non-movable structure. In further embodiments, the energy converter may include three, four, or any other desired number of piezoelectric elements with adjacent ones separated by a deflection member.

EXAMPLES

A device was created in the spirit of the rigidly-linked string or membrane mechanism shown schematically in FIG. 1C with piezoelectric elements that stretch or extend. As convenient shorthand to distinguish the vibration-harvesting mechanism in this work from a bending-beam+mass mechanism, we refer to the energy converter as an extensional Mode Resonator (XMR).

The first embodiment of the XMR used a full circular diaphragm geometry generally similar to that described above with reference to FIG. 4A. The circular diaphragms were made from metalized 28 μm-thick piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) (Measurement Specialties, Inc), and a seismic mass largely constructed from an alloy of 90% tungsten, 6% copper, and 4% nickel. This tungsten alloy has a density of 17 g/cm³, close to the density of pure tungsten (19.3 g/cm³) but is easy to machine with conventional tooling. The total live mass is 26.4 grams. Other rigid parts of the XMR are constructed of brass. The PVDF was glued to the clamping rings and attached to both sides of the seismic mass with nylon screws. The W-alloy and brass components were electrically isolated from the metalized PVDF film by applying a lacquer coating where they might contact the PVDF, and etching the electrodes from the PVDF using a peroxy-sulfuric acid solution. The piezoelectric properties of the PVDF, as reported by the manufacturer, are d₃₁=23 pC N⁻¹, ε=106-113 pF m⁻¹, and E=2-4 GPa.

The PVDF elements are suspended at the center with flanged spools. The rigid link between the spools is an axial tuning screw, the effective length of which may be changed by turning the screw relative to the spool. This is the mechanism by which u_(p), and therefore the resonant frequency, is controlled. The volume of the XMR (excluding testing fixtures) is about 10 cm³ (0.6 in³).

Experimental Procedure

The XMR was mounted solidly to a vibration table (Brüel and Kjaer 4801 system) for testing. The driving signal was typically white noise (to observe a frequency spectrum) or a sine wave from the signal source on a dynamic signal analyzer (DSA) (Agilent 35670A). The open-circuit voltage from the XMR and an accelerometer that was also mounted to the vibration table were input to the DSA. The data was collected using either an oscilloscope (Tektronix TDS 2002) or the DSA. A convenient method of characterizing the spectrum of dynamic behavior is the frequency response function (FRF), defined as the open circuit output of the device divided by the acceleration measured from the vibration table. In the linear approximation, the FRF will not depend on the amplitude of driving vibrations.

Resonant Frequency Tunability

A concern of any frequency tunable device is the ability to provide repeatability of resonance adjustability. FIG. 5 is a plot of several frequency response functions (“FRF's”) as a function of frequency. Each FRF was found after changing the pretension displacement. The XMR was tuned between three screw positions, shown in the table below.

Average Frequency Position Hz Standard Deviation 1 112.67 3.06 2 134.67 2.31 3 167.33 1.15

Position 2 was the initial point. Position 1 had an u_(p) of 0.1 mm less (¼ turn of the adjustment screw) than Position 2 and Position 3 had an u_(p) of 0.2 mm greater (½ turn of the adjustment screw) than Position 2. In general, when the screw setting was aligned to a mark at a particular position, the resonant frequency was repeatable.

FIG. 6 is a plot of the resonant frequency as a function of the displacement of the tuning screw (relative to f_(R)=212 Hz). The resonant frequency may be related to the natural frequency by ω_(R)ω_(N)(1−2ζ²)  (17)

If the damping is entirely mechanical in nature, then substitution of Equations (2), (15) and (16) into (17) yields a simple relationship between resonant frequency and preloading displacement,

$\begin{matrix} {f_{R} = {\frac{1}{2\pi}\frac{1}{\sqrt{m}}{\sqrt{{6\beta\; u_{p}^{2}} - \frac{b_{M}^{2}}{2m}}.}}} & (18) \end{matrix}$

Therefore, the relationship between resonant frequency and preloading displacement is not quite linear, with the non-linearity modulated by the mechanical resistance. For this device, it is likely that the mechanical resistance, does not change with natural frequency. If so, then Equation (18) should be a reasonable descriptor of f_(R) (u_(p)).

The data in FIG. 6 was fit by Levenberg-Marquardt least-squares minimization to Equation (18), shown as a solid black line. It is seen that Equation (18) describes the data well, particularly in comparison to a linear approximation (shown as a thin dashed line), which would be approximation of the resonant frequency as the natural frequency. Outputs from the best fit to Equation (18) are b_(M)=51.5±5.0 N ·s m⁻¹, β=819±120 MPa mm⁻¹, and the unmeasured bias to the preloading displacement, u_(p,0)=4.4±0.6 mm.

The resonant frequency, for this particular geometry, ranges between 97 Hz and 235 Hz. A tuning range, defined as the difference between the highest and lowest frequency divided by the lowest frequency, of 144% was achieved with the XMR technique for the data shown in FIG. 6, which is not the maximum range possible but merely that used for the existing demonstration purposes. Larger ranges are certainly possible. The upper resonant frequency limit of the XMR will be determined by mechanical failure (either fracture or permanent plastic deformation) of the extensional piezoelectric elements.

Electrical Output and Power Generation

As shown above, the XMR as a unit behaves as a linear mass-spring system over a large range of displacements. However, each PVDF element is still non-linear, and will generate an increasing amount of electrical harmonics of the fundamental driving frequency. Electrical power that is in harmonic frequencies may be difficult for charge-recovery electronics to recover, and could be lost.

A simple experiment was performed to get an estimate of the magnitude of the power contained within the harmonics, known as total harmonic distortion (THD). After finding the resonant frequency of a particular setting on the XMR, the vibration table was driven near the resonant frequency, in this case 217 Hz. The acceleration signal confirmed that this was the only frequency contained in the vibration spectrum. FIG. 7 is a plot of the voltage output from the XMR while driven at 10 m/s² RMS; the main peak is, of course, at 217 Hz. Higher harmonics appear at 434 and 651 Hz. The total power contained within these two harmonics is only 0.13% of that within the main peak. At a vibration driving amplitude of 5 m/s² RMS, the THD is halved to 0.058%. As of now, harmonic generation is not a significant source of power loss.

With experimental measurements of the tuning range of the XMR, and achieved open-circuit outputs of 1.75 volts from one PVDF element of 3 nF capacitance, estimates can be made of the recoverable electric power. The mechanical response assumes constant mechanical damping instead of constant dimensionless damping, ξ_(M). Furthermore, the electrical damping is assumed to be small compared to the mechanical damping. The consequence of this is that the (acceleration normalized) voltage amplitude from the XMR will stay constant with varying resonant frequency (a consequence of a linear, damped oscillator), but the power will increase as frequency increases. The harvestable power is estimated as ¼ of the “exchange power” through the capacitor in open circuit conditions; that is,

$\begin{matrix} {P = {\frac{1}{4}{{\overset{\_}{V}}_{OC}^{2}\left( {2\pi\; f_{R}} \right)}{CA}^{2}}} & (19) \end{matrix}$ where V _(OC) indicates the open-circuit voltage per m/s², C is the capacitance, and A is the RMS acceleration, or about 0.7 times the acceleration amplitude. This expression assumes, and is a consequence of, that power is dissipated over a resistor which has a resistance equal to the capacitive impedance of the XMR. FIG. 8 maps the result of Equation (19) onto a plot of acceleration vs. resonant frequency. At 1 g RMS acceleration and 180 Hz with both membranes being used to generate power, the XMR (as currently designed) should be capable of producing 0.5 mW of recoverable power. Greater power could be achieved by increasing the seismic mass, improving the piezoelectric material, reducing mechanical losses and parasitic capacitance.

The theoretical model in FIG. 8 used a mass of 35.6 g and a capacitance of 3 nF. FIG. 9 shows the power output from a version of the XMR with a live mass of 26.4 g (a reduction of ˜25%) and a capacitance of 1.1 nF (˜63% reduction) and one working piezoelectric element. Accounting for the reduction due to these changes, experimental values agree with the theoretical plot. Most importantly, the transition from the linear response to the cubic response is shown to increase with increased pretension and resonant frequency. Since power is directly related to the strain, and hence deflection, in a piezoelectric film while the acceleration is directly related to the applied force on the system, the behavior is FIG. 9 is as was suggested in FIG. 2; the pretension increases the linear regime in output and operating in the stretching, rather than bending, regime provides significant tunability while maintaining the power output at higher frequencies.

Mechanical Losses

It is believed that the gain in mechanical response at resonance (the quality factor, Q) has a great effect on the total conversion of mechanical to electrical energy. One of the tradeoffs of high Q are that the power output drops off significantly as the driving vibration frequency deviates from the resonant frequency of the harvester. However, if frequency tunability is incorporated into device design this tradeoff is largely overcome, and high Q is again desirable.

Assuming, from open-circuit conditions that all frictional forces are mechanical in origin, Q may be estimated from the bandwidth Δf at half of peak power (or at 70.7% of peak voltage): Q=f _(R) /Δf  (20) Q can also be defined in terms of mass, spring stiffness and the mechanical resistance R which is related to the damping force, F_(D), through F_(D)=−R{dot over (u)} as

$\begin{matrix} {Q = {\frac{\sqrt{m\; k}}{R}.}} & (21) \end{matrix}$

If our system is able to vary resonant frequency through variations of k only, then

$\begin{matrix} {Q = {2\pi\frac{m}{R}{f_{R}.}}} & (22) \end{matrix}$

Therefore, Q should increase linearly with the resonant frequency. It has been observed empirically that dimensionless mechanical damping, ξ_(M), decreased with increasing resonant frequency. Substitution of the constant-mass resonant frequency into the expression for ξ_(M) shows that ξ_(M) should decrease reciprocally with f_(R) with no change in the mechanical resistance:

$\begin{matrix} {\xi_{M} = {\frac{R}{2\sqrt{k\; m}} = {\frac{R}{4\pi\; m}{\frac{1}{f_{R}}.}}}} & (23) \end{matrix}$

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, but that various modifications may be made without deviating from the invention. Elements of one embodiment may be combined with other embodiments in addition to or in lieu of the elements of the other embodiments. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims. 

1. A device for converting mechanical vibration energy to electrical energy, comprising: a first structural member; a second structural member spaced apart from the first structural member; a first piezoelectric element and a second piezoelectric element individually coupled to the first structural member and the second structural member; and a deflection member tensionally suspended between the first and second piezoelectric elements, the deflection member being substantially rigid, wherein the deflection member is adjustable at least in length along a direction of deflection with respect to the first and second piezoelectric elements.
 2. The device of claim 1 wherein the first and second piezoelectric elements are generally identical to each other, and wherein the first and second piezoelectric elements are arranged generally symmetrically relative to the deflection member.
 3. The device of claim 1 wherein the first and second piezoelectric elements are at least partially flexible such that the deflection member deflects the first and second piezoelectric elements away from each other.
 4. The device of claim 1 wherein the first and second piezoelectric elements are at least partially flexible such that the deflection member deflects the first piezoelectric element in a first direction, and wherein the deflection member deflects the second piezoelectric element in a second direction generally opposite of the first direction.
 5. The device of claim 1 wherein the device has a natural frequency linearly related to a degree of deflection of the first or second piezoelectric element.
 6. The device of claim 1 wherein the deflection member is adjustable with respect to the first and second piezoelectric elements.
 7. A device for converting mechanical vibration energy to electrical energy, comprising: a first structural member; a second structural member spaced apart from the first structural member; a first piezoelectric element and a second piezoelectric element individually coupled to the first structural member and the second structural member; and a deflection member tensionally suspended between the first and second piezoelectric elements, the deflection member being substantially rigid, wherein the deflection member is adjustable with respect to the first and second piezoelectric elements, and wherein the device further includes an adjustment member operatively coupled to the deflection member, the adjustment member being configured to adjust a degree of deflection with respect to the first and second piezoelectric elements.
 8. An energy converter, comprising: a first end member and a second end member spaced apart from the first end member; a first conversion element coupled to the first end member; a second conversion element coupled to the second end member, at least one of the first and second conversion elements is at least partially deformable and is configured to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy; and a mass between the first and second conversion elements, at least one of the first end member, the second end member, and the mass applying a static tension to at least one of the first and second conversion elements, wherein the mass is adjustable at least in length along a direction of deflection with respect to the first and second conversion elements.
 9. The energy converter of claim 8 wherein the first and second conversion elements extend between the first and second end members in the longitudinal direction, and wherein the mass is located generally in a center position along the longitudinal direction.
 10. The energy converter of claim 8 wherein the first and second conversion elements extend between the first and second end members in the longitudinal direction, and wherein the mass stretches at least one of the first and second conversion elements in a transverse direction.
 11. The energy converter of claim 8 wherein the first and second conversion elements extend between the first and second end members in the longitudinal direction, and wherein at least one of the mass and the first and second end members stretch at least one of the first and second conversion in the longitudinal direction.
 12. The energy converter of claim 8 wherein the first and second conversion elements extend between the first and second end members in a longitudinal direction, and wherein the mass is located generally in a center position along the longitudinal direction, and further wherein the mass stretches at least one of the first and second conversion in a transverse direction.
 13. The energy converter of claim 8 wherein the first and second conversion elements individually include a generally circular diaphragm that is at least partially deformable.
 14. The energy converter of claim 8 wherein the energy converter further includes an adjustment member operatively coupled to at least one of the first and second end members, the adjustment member being configured to modulate a distance between the first and second end members.
 15. The energy converter of claim 8 wherein the first and second conversion elements include circular diaphragms that extend between the first and second end members in a longitudinal direction, and wherein the energy converter further includes a screw operatively coupled to the first and second end members, the screw being configured to modulate a distance between the first and second end members in the longitudinal direction.
 16. A method for energy conversion, comprising: receiving a vibration from an environment with a energy converter, the energy converter including a substantially rigid mass that pretensions a piezoelectric element; adjusting a natural frequency of the energy converter by modulating a degree of pretension on the piezoelectric element; converting the received vibration from the environment into at least one of electric energy, optic energy, sound energy, and electromagnetic energy; detecting a power output from the energy converter; and wherein adjusting a natural frequency of the energy converter includes modulating a degree of pretension on the piezoelectric element based on the power output from the energy converter.
 17. The method of claim 16 wherein adjusting a natural frequency of the energy converter includes adjusting a natural frequency of the energy converter based on a frequency of the vibration from the environment.
 18. The method of claim 16, further comprising: detecting a frequency of the vibration from the environment; and wherein adjusting a natural frequency of the energy converter includes adjusting a natural frequency of the energy converter by modulating a degree of pretension on the piezoelectric element to generally match the detected frequency of the vibration from the environment.
 19. A method for energy conversion, comprising: receiving a vibration from an environment with a energy converter, the energy converter including a substantially rigid mass that pretensions a piezoelectric element; adjusting a natural frequency of the energy converter by modulating a degree of pretension on the piezoelectric element; converting the received vibration from the environment into at least one of electric energy, optic energy, sound energy, and electromagnetic energy; detecting a power output from the energy converter; and wherein adjusting a natural frequency of the energy converter includes adjusting a natural frequency of the energy converter by modulating a degree of pretension on the piezoelectric element to at least increase the power output from the energy converter.
 20. An energy converter, comprising: a first structural member and a second structure member spaced apart from the first structural member; at least one piezoelectric element coupled to the first and second structural members, the piezoelectric element and the first and second structural members at least partially define a natural frequency of the energy converter; and means for at least partially linearizing a relationship between the natural frequency of the energy converter and a vibration amplitude of the piezoelectric element, wherein means for at least partially linearizing include means for pretensioning the piezoelectric element during a non-energized state, and wherein the energy converter further includes means for adjusting pretension of the piezoelectric element. 